The Scientific Altar Call

Several month ago, BrianJ at Cold and Calculating offered some advice on what to do when weighing the opinion of scientific experts.

If you feel like you just have to know which theory is right–what to believe–then I suggest you become a scientist yourself and join in the search.

But if you just want to know what to teach your kids, how to spend your tax dollars for research, or which textbook to use, then I don’t think you have to believe anything. You just want to know which theory to accept, and you’d do best to go with the theory supported by the majority of scientists, especially if it is a vast majority.

What’s the difference? To believe a theory requires knowledge, time, effort, and study. To accept a theory just means that you act in accordance with it.

To take this one step further, a person can accept--or even believe--a scientific principle or theory without pledging some kind of metaphysical allegience to it. In fact, since science is by nature tentative, you would be wise not to.

Science plays an important role in many aspects of life, but ultimately there is no scientific altar call.

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Wilford Woodruff on Prophets and Science

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Wilford Woodruff contains the following quote in Chapter 19:

Now whatever I might have obtained in the shape of learning, by searching and study respecting the arts and sciences of men, whatever principles I may have imbibed during my scientific researches, yet if the prophet of God should tell me that a certain principle, or theory which I might have learned was not true, I do not care what my ideas might have been, I should consider it my duty, at the suggestion of my file leader to abandon that principle or theory. …

I have seen men in the days of Joseph bring up principles, and read and teach, and advocate theories when the prophet would say “it is not right to do so, they are not true.” Those men would still argue, maintain their position, and they would write in defence of their theories when the prophet condemned them, and they would say “we have no faith in your theory, nor in the system you present.”

The very moment a man does that he crosses the path of the servant of God who is set to lead the way to life and salvation. This is one thing that the Elders should carefully avoid. The fact is there are a great many things taught in the building up of this kingdom which seem strange to us, being contrary to our traditions, and are calculated to try men. Brother Joseph used a great many methods of testing the integrity of men, and he taught a great many things which in consequence of tradition required prayer, faith and a testimony from the Lord before they could be believed by many of the Saints. … [bolding added--LDSSR]

(The original and full text of his speech is available here. Thanks to Justin at Mormon Wasp, whose online documenting of the manual helped me find the source.)

Wilford said this in 1857, well before his own presidency. Nevertheless I'll pose this somewhat tongue-in-cheek question: Does this constitute prophetic endorsement of the idea that God put fossils in the ground to test us?

More seriously, I think the question can be answered both yes and no. How you parse it depends on your perspective and assumptions. Here is mine--at least for now. No, God has not intentionally confused us, but neither has he sought to clear such matters up. If there is a test, perhaps it is to see whether we will reject the gospel and the prophets because of associated weaknesses.

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Shortcut to the Spirit

From CNN:

NEW YORK (AP) -- People who took an illegal drug made from mushrooms reported profound mystical experiences that led to behavior changes lasting for weeks -- all part of an experiment that recalls the psychedelic '60s....

Psilocybin has been used for centuries in religious practices, and its ability to produce a mystical experience is no surprise. But the new work demonstrates it more clearly than before, Griffiths said.

Even two months after taking the drug, pronounced SILL-oh-SY-bin, most of the volunteers said the experience had changed them in beneficial ways, such as making them more compassionate, loving, optimistic and patient. Family members and friends said they noticed a difference, too.

(There is also a Q&A with the lead research here.)

I have not followed it much, but there is a relatively new branch of science called neurotheology that seeks to understand the brain's involvement in religious experiences. You may recall that several years ago scientists imaged the brains of people (monks, nuns, or some such) while they were having religious experiences (mystical connections with the universe, etc.)

These types of things naturally turn our minds to the operations of the Spirit. We often talk of the Spirit in terms of feeling, which leads me to strongly suspect that there is a neurological basis for our perceptions of the Spirit. Just how it operates and how it is triggered (rightly or wrongly) would be fascinating to know.

So I'll pose two questions:

1. Should we seek to understand the brain's involvement in religious experience?

2. The mystical experiences above seemed to induce change in people's behavior for the better. What if we could offer criminals help in changing their behavior by giving them such a drug?

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Intellectual Polygamy

Over at The Spinozist Mormon Christian tells of his interest in Masonry and uses the metaphor of a mistress to describe his intellectual relationship with it. So I commented:

I had a fairly steady girlfriend my freshmen year at BYU. Her name was Adam-God. She wrote me a bit on my mission and we dated some when I got back, but I ultimately decided that I wanted to date others. We send Christmas cards, but that’s about it these days.

To add to the above, we were introduced by a guy in my dorm hall, and we hit it off. Eventually, I think I just got tired of her. She tended to send mixed messages and my ecclesiastical leaders didn't speak kindly of her. So I moved on.

As must be obvious to others, I'm now in a pretty serious relationship with Evolution. We might even be married by common law. I go on a few dates with others now and then, but I don't have any mistresses or additional wives right now.

Who have you dated/married/carried on with? Is it the typical "we met at BYU" story?

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Stem Cells and French Fries

Unless you don't follow the news, you already know that the Senate passed a bill that would allow federally funded (eg. NIH) stem cell research on lines derived from embryos destined for destruction from fertility clinics, and President Bush wasted no time to veto it.

According to Tony Snow:

"The simple answer is he thinks murder's wrong," Snow said. "The president is not going to get on the slippery slope of taking something living and making it dead for the purposes of scientific research."

This reminds me of an occasion in the fifth grade when I finished my lunch and asked a quasi-friend if he was going to eat his french fries. He said no, so I asked if I could have them. He asked if I had anything to trade but I didn't--I had eaten all my food. He refused to let me have his fries. We went back and forth and finally I watched as he dumped them in the garbage.

Maybe it was a good thing though. Slippery slope, you know. If he had given me those fries, I might have begun to feel entitled to his pudding or chocolate milk whether he wanted them or not. Pretty soon I would be a simple freeloader.

Well anyway, I recognize that good people have differences of opinion on this issue, but Bush looks a little like that kid to me--taking a moral stand against murdering those embryos by sending them to the incinerator instead.

FYI, four out of the five LDS senators that I am aware of voted for the bill (Hatch, Bennett, Reid, Smith). Crapo was the exception.

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Hot Air versus Brass Tacks

This is just a quick plug for a post I wrote for Mormons and Evolution:

Mobile Genetic Elements and Animal Relationships.

Ann Coulter says there is no evidence for evolution. Meanwhile, people are publishing studies like the one I hightlight in the post above. I think it's really cool stuff--hopefully you will too.

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Blogroll Update

When I first started this blog, blogrolls were the life-blood of getting traffic. Then came the formation of Mormon Archipelago, LDSelect, and LDS Blogs and my blog reading tended to either use one of these services or my own aggregator. Furthermore, I get most of my traffic from a few sources (esp. MA). Consequently my blog links on the sidebar have fallen by the wayside for months.

Christian's recent post reminded me that I ought to update the blogroll, so I have. Since it is always nice to see a link to your own blog on someone else's blog, I've tried to reciprocate by including blogs that link here. If you feel that I have unjustly overlooked your blog, please let me know.

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Kent Hovind Arrested

From the NCSE:

Kent Hovind, the evangelist who styles himself "Dr. Dino" and runs the Creation Science Evangelism ministry as well as Dinosaur Adventure Land, a small creationist theme park in Pensacola, Florida, was arrested on July 13, 2006, on fifty-eight federal charges.

More background on Hovind here.

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My Utah Geology Report

I just returned from a week in Utah. As I posted before my trip, I was hoping to learn a little basic geology--and I wasn't disappointed. In addition to the resources at the Utah Geological Survey I also had my father-in-law who, while not a geologist, has background and continuing interest in geology. I snapped a few pictures which I will show below, and of course I invite comments--especially from those who know more than I do.

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(Click to enlarge images.)


One of the easiest features to see--that probably any Utah native knows about--is the ancient shoreline of Lake Bonneville. The Great Salt Lake and Utah Lake are remnants of this once large lake. This first photo looks south along the Wasatch Mountains to Point of the Mountain, and the shoreline is pretty easy to see.

This picture is of Little Cottonwood Canyon, which was formed by a glacier. Quartz monzonite was quarried from this canyon to build the Salt Lake Temple.

Glacier-cut canyons tend to have a straight U-shape rather than the wandering V-shape made by river erosion. The upper part of Big Cottonwood Canyon was also cut by a glacier but the lower part was cut by water erosion, so there is a transition from the U-shape to V-shape as you travel down the canyon. Google Earth provides a neat comparison of Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon. In this image (looking east) you can see the difference between Little CC (right) and the lower part of Big CC (left). Also, the base of Big CC was once a delta that is now harvested for sand and gravel. (Much of the skiing in Utah takes place in these two canyons.)


The mouth and surrounding hills of Little Cottonwood Canyon are littered with white boulders. These appear to be terminal moraine--rocks brought down and then dropped by the glacier.

Near the canyon you can also see part of the Wasatch fault. Shown here, it runs from the white patch of rocks toward the right (in the saddle-shaped area) down toward the house in the center with the reddish roof.




I spent some of my time in Midway--near Heber--and took a couple of pictures of hot pots. The most prominent one is at the Homestead, but there are other smaller ones around the valley.

I also did the building tour, which was interesting, but I won't bore you further. All in all I think it was a successful venture.

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Utah Paleontology Plea

I'm back from a week in Utah. Unfortunately my DSL is on the fritz so I'll have to wait to give a full report, and blogging might be a little light.

In the meantime, The Pandas Thumb had this plea from a Utah paleontologist with the Utah Geological Survey. I'll reproduce the text here, but go to the original post if you want to follow relevant links.

The National Park Service is requesting comments on the development of a regional paleontological repository facility in Vernal, Utah in a partnership with the Vernal Field House of Natural History (Utah State Parks). The facilty is to be constructed adjoining the newly opened Vernal Field House of Natural History in Vernal and jointly managed.

Please strongly support the development of this facility...

We need to strongly support the development of the Uintah Research and Curatorial Center in Vernal, Utah versus the alternative of No Action!

The collection facility at Dinosaur National Monument is falling apart because of substrate instability.

The Vernal Field House of Natural History does not have a collections facility in their new Museum and has basically given up their status as a federal repository until such a facilty can be constructed.

If the proposed facility is not constructed, Utah will not have a federal paleontological repository in the Uinta Basin.

Thus, many more future fossil collections from this region will leave the state, particularly those made through the mitigation of paleontological resources due to energy development.

Also the absence of a paleontological repository in the region could hinder the development of energy resources in the Uinta Basin through the slowing down the ability of local paleontological mitigation groups to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Again, please strongly support the development of this facility.

Jim Kirkland is a State Paleontologist with the Utah Geological Survey.

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